


Dame Des Himmels - A Tale of Skyships, Monsters, Mechanical Legs and Romance.

by LoverOfLoki



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Cannibalism, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 11:36:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoverOfLoki/pseuds/LoverOfLoki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes finding something you never expected on you ship could be the best thing to happen in life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What to Find in the Engine Room Of a Skyship.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank Hayley and Charlotte for putting up with me with this and all my wild ideas.

Gerard loved the skies, it gave him a sense of freedom that he couldn’t get when he was landbound. On land he felt heavy, like his limbs were sheer steel, well his leg was copper, but that wasn’t heavy and if it weren’t for the pirates he’s still have that leg. The place Gerard loved the most though was the deck, that’s where he felt the most free. It’s when Gerard is on the deck that he could hear it. He could hear everything. The ropes move slightly that attach the ship to the zeppelin, the engines below, the steam. This sound though was always coming from directly below him, it was like a man in pain. The men who worked on the ship were always afraid of the sound, some convinced that there was an angel aboard, injured, crying for help. Gerard knew better though, he’s been near angels before, they became vicious after they were thrown landbound by the gods. Others said there were ghosts aboard, those men were the men who worked the hardest, believing the ghosts to be of Gerard’s old crew. Then only a couple say that Gerard is harbouring a cannibal, a criminal, in his ship, taking him away from the Americas where he is wanted for murder. None were brave enough to go find out for themselves. Lucky for Gerard that he spent most of his life on the Dame Des Himmels and knew how to fix the engines since his engineer wouldn’t even go near the door of the engine room. The sound was very curious though, i sounded like pain but it wasn’t, like a sound of real need or want. Gerard wanted to check it, but how would he do it without confirming the cannibal theory going below deck with out reason was always cause for concern amongst the shipmates, usually because it was an engine failure of sorts. No, Gerard needed a reason to go below deck.  
It was 3 days later that Gerard found a reason to go below deck. It was in a sky port in Rome. Docking at the ports means the conductors in the Zeppelin could stretch their long legs, and the cooks could stock up. No one was on the ship. So Gerard went below deck, he left hisgoggles and gloves on the stairs down to the door, no matter the age of the ship, the design of the ship still left Gerard in awe, his grandfather built Dame Des Himmels for his grandmother when they were first married. Dame Des Himmels translates to Lady of The Skies, his grandmother loves sailing the skies. Finding new materials and creatures was her life, the ship its self was made of wood with copper gears, fixtures, and door handles, she was a beautiful ship. Gerard shook his head, he had a job to do, not come down and reminisce. Upon opening the door the sound became louder, not only that there was now a sort of growling sound, feral almost. Gerard lit the fuel lamp on entering the room, the engine room was the darkest of all the rooms, with no Windows, according to his father it made the engine safer upon attack. Gerard looked round the engine room, finding nothing but the engine and scrap metal, it wasn’t until something moved in the corner that he knew he wasn’t alone, and for what all the rumours were this one was really not the one he expected to be true. As unlikely the angels were, it was more likely than the man who sat cowering in the corner. Gerard moved closer to the man, well he looked more like a boy, maybe around 15. It wasn’t strange for a boy this young to be on a sky ship, but Gerard was unsure why this boy was on this ship, he was wearing a well made black suit, red shirt, had goggles and leather gloves, the boy was not poor, yet he did not posses the roughness of a ship or dock worker. More like a writer of some sort. As Gerard crouched do speak to the boy he got a good look at his face. Gerard gasped, it couldn’t be, This guy was one of the most famous engineers in the Americas, he was loved for his inventions, from manufacturing the best mechanical limbs people could buy, to creating mechanical pets. The man was a genius for his age. Gerard was recommended to him for his leg, but he couldn’t afford the prices that they were sold. Everyone loved and honoured Mr Frank Iero, worlds greatest engineer. Yet it all went down hill for frank just last year, nobody knows where he went to or why he just disappeared, but he did, there was little talk about it, like people were afraid to mention the man who helped save many workers from being out of a job, and kept children happy with the robot pixies.   
“Mr. Iero!” Gerard exclaims, shocked “What are you doing here? Where have you been?”  
Frank looked at Gerard, he looked worried, scared, and a little mad. It wasn’t a secret that Frank Iero was too mad for people to endure, but he was a genius. Frank frowned, then wailed. It was so loud that Gerard himself wanted to scream, just to drown it out. The wailing alerted the shipmates. Gerard heard their feet pummeling the stairs on the way down. The ones who thought he was harboring the cannibal started shouting that they knew, they knew who Gerard was keeping down in the engine rooms.  
Shouting ensured and Gerard lost a couple crew members to the Italians. Not that Gerard was bothered they were the worst workers, they didnt like Gerard due to what they had made up, Gerard was still confused. Why had they said that Frank was a cannibal, was this the reason the why Frank was shunned? Not bought from anymore?

~a few hours later~

Gerard had managed, after an hour of persuasion and a struggle, to get Frank into the captain quarters, covered in blankets, and fed. He still wasn’t talking, much to Gerard’s dismay. Frank just looked around himself, curious, like he has no idea where he is and this is the first nice thing he has seen for a while. The quarters are not nearly as nice as his grandmother once kept it, The walls were once covered in yellow paper, the furniture was once waxed to perfection. Now they have seen better days.   
It was watching Frank when he heard it. A high pitched screech that could only come from the Yellow Birds. Gerard stood, grabbed his goggles and gloves and ran onto the deck, and there they were circling the zeppelin. This was bad. Yellow Birds were mechanical made by sky pirates. Engineered to find and destroy Skyships. The men and captains who run the Skyships are technically nobodies, we’re all just men or women who want to explore the skies for new things. There isn’t a whole lot that has been left undiscovered in the skies, but Gerard, like all other adventurers want to discover something new. The Yellow Birds seemed to have noticed Gerard, they dived, attacking the men on the ships, Gerard tried to jump out of the way, but his mechanical leg backfired with the abrupt movement. The next thing Gerard hears a loud screech and nothing.   
the next thing Gerard knows is the sound of tinkering metal, the side of his head felt cold and there was a pain in his right shoulder. Gerard opened his eyes, the room was mostly dark except for the light in the corner, he had no idea what had happened. Gerard sat up, looking for his leg, he usually took it off at night, it was too heavy to sleep with, but his leg was no where to be found  
“It’s okay, i’m fixing it. You blew the mechanics when the birds attacked” Said an unfamiliar voice in the corner. Gerard almost shouted, screamed, he’ll admit that, in surprise but he say Frank looking back at him from behind some peculiarspectacles, Frank grins, “Sorry i startled you. I will admit though, whomever you bought this leg off of was a terrible engineer, have you had a lot of trouble off of the leg?”  
“Uh,” Gerard, quite frankly, had no idea what to say. This man a day prior could only wail and whimper, now he is speaking properly and with the manner of the riches. Frank raised an eyebrow, waiting for a more eloquent response other than ‘uh’. Gerard pulled himself together “Uh, I dont really remember, it was years ago, but i was recommended to you, but the life of a Skyship captain doesn’t pay very well. I’m not sure whom i vought it from now, but it hasn’t had any mechanical issues per se, its just uncomfortable to wear is all”  
Frank took off the spectacles and frowned, “uncomfortable how? it it the bolts? Or is the leg itself too tight?” It seemed that all the traces of the guy Gerard met was gone. Or was it that frank actually had something to do that made him feel normal, no one shunning him made him feel more human rather than an animal. “May i look?” Frank asks out of the blue.  
"Yes, you may." Gerard in all honesty did not want anyone to look at the stump that used to be his leg. He was only young when the attack happened, not long captaining the ship he spent his whole life on. Frank moved across the room slowly, Gerard pulled back his covers just enough to show his right stump. Frank kneeled beside the bed and looked at the bolts that held his leg in place. Frank ran his fingers over the bolts, tested them, he losened and tightened them frowning.   
"I think," Frank's frown deepened. "I think, whenever possible, we need to be land bound. I can only make this suitable for a while longer, but your bolts are in all the wrong places and you need a knew leg." Frank walked back to his work space and picked up the leg and brought it back "This thing should be in a museum"   
"Thanks." Gerard replied, hurt. At least the leg worked.   
Frank go back to work and fixed Gerard's leg enough for him to use in the time being, but he had to return to the Americas so his surgeon could take him and replace his scaffold and bolts while Frank makes him a new leg.


	2. Soup and Romance Novels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The skies offer more than the land does... Freedom, Escapism, and best of all me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sort of filler chapter, and by the way this fic is almost all un-beta'd

Apparently the surgeons are the ones who did Gerard’s leg in the first place. Doctors Ray Toro and Bob Bryar, as Frank threw things around his studio like a petulant teenager telling them that this was not the way you are supposed to attach the scaffold and bolts, Gerard thought about being landbound, he could feel gravity in his bones, and he is gone to have to be landbound for months, he hated it, he just wanted it all over so he could go back on his ship and explore the skies again, he was set on a course to Australia, a place he has never been before, he’s sure he’d find a whole array of majestic creatures flying the skies there. The next and last thing Gerard knows is he is being hauled into an operating room and being gassed.

~Frank

Working on mechanical limbs was one of Frank's favorite jobs, he loved the idea of giving back what someone had lost, he wasn't as far as making the mechanical hearts or brains, but he was happy with what he could do. Frank worked away on Gerard's leg, fixing it up making sure the thing was perfect for a captain of a Skyship. Frank hoped it would be perfect. He owed Gerard. He doesn't remember getting on his ship or anything before that, in fact the last thing frank remembers is the community shunning him for on mistake. Didn't they know that when he make their arms and legs that he was suppressing the urges. Working made him forget the whole horrid business that went on inside his head, those cravings for things he could not have. He slipped up once, it couldn't be helped he was going on that his daughters cat had backfired leaking oil over the new rug, Frank just got frustrated. He did not mean to eat the man, he really didn't. Then the public found out, they were furious they went and got their limbs replaced and sold Frank's on for scraps. He was hurt. How could they hate him for something he could not help. They hadnt heard his back story, that he was raised by cannibals, thins is where his mindset had came from and what he tried so hard to repress.

The hours passed and Gerard came out of surgery. His bolts at least were in the right place, all Frank needed to do now was wait until it had healed. He thanked Ray and Bob and paid them well. Frank peeked in on Gerard, he really did have a lot to repay Gerard, he saved Frank in a way, helped him get better. Frank went and made thick vegetable soup for when Gerard woke up, He needed to keep stong for when he's back up and walking around.

~Gerard

The first thing Gerard notices when he wakes up is the pain in his leg, the next is that he is in a strange room, all black walls and red fabrics. It was a beautiful room, books surrounded the bed and a chair in the corner, thick volumes on the progression of life an death to little romance novels, it bemused Gerard, it looked to be a room where a man and wife slept. Then Gerard felt uncomfortable, he remembers that he is at Frank's now he is taking up the marital bed, this shouldn't be the case, they should have put him in a guest room. Gerard doesn't like staying in a house where there is a married couple, he already feels as thought he is taking The Engineer for granted getting an operation and a new leg in one sitting. Through his fretting Gerard hears a knock on the door.  
"Gerard? Are you awake?" Frank asks quietly.  
Now there is so much Gerard could do here, stay quiet and frett on his own or reply. "Yes, i am awake" apparently he was to answer.  
Frank opens the door and walks in, a bowl in one hand and a steaming mug, which smells like coffee in the other.  
Frank grins. "I made soup and coffee, I dont want you wasting away while your in bed all the time"  
"Thank you, Frank, this is very kind of you" Gerard says taking the coffee and sipping on it. The only thing that Gerard will admit about liking the land more than the skies is the coffee.  
Frank sets the soup down and pulls a chair over to beside Gerard. "It's my pleasure, Gerard, you helped me, I should help you."  
Gerard sighs and continues sipping the coffee, then the thought strikes him again. "you shouldnt have put me in this bed, what will your wife say if she see's me here?"  
Frank looks perplexed. "My wife? Gerard i do not have a wife" he says quietly.  
Gerard looks at the romance novels again and it hits him, the romance novels are Frank's. Gerard almost starts laughing, he isnt used to men reading at all never mind romance novels. "I'm sorry Frank, i just assumed the romance novels were your wife's."  
Frank just shrugged. "I enjoy them, there is no harm in that, is there?" he says, then gets up and goes to the door. "Enjoy your soup." And with that he leaves.


	3. The Marvelous Life On Skyships, and the Miserable life of the Cannibal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's to say he wont work on the ships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is essentially hayley's fault.

It takes a few months, but tomorrow Gerard sets sail again. Finally getting to set sail for Australia. He is incredibly happy, he has spent months sleeping in Frank’s bed and eating Frank’s food, while Frank has spent the entire time making soup and building his leg, when it was finished he had to take a couple of weeks to get used to it. It was lighter than his last one, easier to use, but he has been on a mechanical leg for 8 years, it’s not like he hasn’t had one before. The main priority is to make Frank see that coming aboard Dame Des Himmels is the right choice for him. Frank told Gerard the logistics behind what had happened and Gerard knew he would not get any work on land, Gerard stressed to Frank that he is an engineer and that the profession was one of the best in the skies, the engineers were solely responsible for keeping the engines running, making sure they don’t break down. Gerard also said that if Frank was on the ship he could maintain Gerard’s new leg. After all what would Frank rather, a life aboard a Skyship seeing new places, living in adventure, or the land, where the people despise him for what he is?

In the end Frank chooses the ship, and Gerard is pleased, he thinks Frank will be genuinely happy on the ships, there is always work to be done, deals to made and stuff to be seen. 

When they set sail, Gerard is happy, he feels the weight lifting off of him the farther from the ground they go, setting sail for Australia.

After a while on the deck just watching the skies Gerard feels a presence behind him. "You really love the skies, don't you?" Came Frank's soft voice.  
Gerard turned to look at him, Frank had his goggles on so Gerard couldn't see his eyes, but he wore a soft smile. "Yes, I really do"

With those words Frank stayed quiet, but he came up to stand beside Gerard looking over the side of the ship, Gerard could clearly see Frank was not afraid of heights, instead Gerard looked upwards, at the zeppelin above, through the orange of the skies further above, it illuminated the giant balloon and Gerard could see the conductors working away. It made Gerard feel at home, seeing everyone at work, flying the skies, seeing the large mechanically designed eagles fly past. 

Days went by and Gerard showed Frank all the discoveries that were made in the skies, the giant birds, or the lands they have raised to the skies where all the Skyships can dock and stock up on supplies, the adventures were endless, sometimes the docked landward because they needed fuel or just to show Frank the places they have been before, the ruins in rome, with the ancient mechanisms and gears that they used. Or Germany Where Gerard took Frank to see the first aircraft that never took to the skies, it all fascinated him, and every day Gerard was awoken by Frank asking where they were going next. Gerard was happy that Frank was happy.

Though as the months went past Gerard noticed a change in their relationship, maybe in the way that their hands casually brushed or when one caught the other looking from across the dinner hall, it was the little things. Gerard had been drawing Frank more and more often. He never understood why though, why the small engineer caught his thoughts when he wasn't even in the same room as him, and as more days passed Gerard was starting to see how attractive Frank really was. He was short, yes, but he was handsome. Frank's eyes were his main attraction, they always looked different colours in different lights, and that was one of the ways Gerard could get away with drawing Frank, as he explained to one of the shipmates, Frank Iero is a handsome man.

Once they reached Australia, Gerard pushed all thoughts to the back of his mind, he was set upon finding new creatures here. Australia was used as a country prison for the British. Sending their criminals out here, that though never disrupted the skies.  
The skies were something else, there were all sorts of creatures here, some he knew and some he didn't and the ones he didn't were beautiful. Some were bright blue with red feathers around their head, and some of them were lizard-ish. Gerard was amazed that the lizard could be in the skies. Years ago the dragons used to roam the skies but there wasn't many dragons around these days, nearly extinct, but he does recollect the time his grandma used to tell him stories, not long before she died, not being able to handle the oxygen levels of landbound, she told him amazing stories of bright blue and shocking orange dragons fighting in the skies. Gerard wants the believe that the stories are real, that his grandma spoke from experience, but he himself had never seen a dragon in his many years in the skies.  
Gerard turned to look at Frank, to express his joy, but Frank looked worried, there was no joy in this eyes, only fear. "Frank, what's the matter, don't you see the creatures?" Gerard grinned, excited.  
"You didn't come to Australia for the creatures did you? This i all and act, you're going to dock and leave me here. I know what this country is Gerard. You ca't fool me any more. You tricked me into believing this is an adventure and are helping the people get rid of me, send me to a prison far away so the don't have to look at Frank the cannibal any more"  
Gerard was shocked, he had no plan to send Frank to any prison. :Frank I'm not like that, I don't want to send you away, i like having you aboard the ship, you make life a little more joyous being here I have never seen so much excitement for seeing new places, I can assure you Frank that i do not want to send you away. No one on this ship wants you to go anywhere" Gerard was still in a state of shock, there was no reason Frank should feel this way as he was loved for his enthusiasm aboard the ship.  
"Don't lie to me, Gerard. Just dock and get it over with."


End file.
